


Valentine's Chaos

by Stariceling



Category: Robotboy
Genre: F/M, Love Triangles, M/M, Unrequited Love, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-14
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2017-12-06 04:58:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/731688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A continuation of the Valentine's Day episode. Tommy, Lola, and Gus have to deal with Robotboy's unlikely crush and their own assorted unrequited feelings for one another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lola's POV

**Author's Note:**

> After seeing the Valentine’s Day episode I wanted to write something about the three kids trying to deal with Robotboy’s unlikely crush. (I also really want to know what went on in that rocket, but that would have to be a separate fic. ^^;) Main pairings, all unrequited, are Lola+Tommy, Robotboy+Gus, Tommy+Robotboy, and Gus+Lola. There are other pairings implied or mentioned, but those are the main ones I’m focusing on.

The boat carrying Gus and Robotboy had already disappeared into the tunnel of love, leaving Tommy and Lola to laugh at the unlikely ‘couple.’ The whole thing didn’t seem as funny as it normally should have for some reason. Lola didn’t know about Tommy, but it seemed really unfair that Gus was the only one to have an admirer on Valentine’s Day.

“Shouldn’t we go after them?” Lola suggested, pointing at an empty boat that seemed to be just waiting for the two of them.

“Nah. They’ll have to come out again in a few minutes anyway.”

Lola sighed in disappointment. She knew that already. She had just wanted. . . well, it didn’t matter. Tommy had rushed to her rescue, or at least tried to, and that was better than sitting in a creaky boat in a smelly old tunnel anyway.

Tommy went and sat down on the steps leading up to the tunnel of love attraction to wait. Lola followed and curled up next to him, just shy of letting her head rest on his shoulder. Just being that close made her happy, but Tommy didn’t seem to notice.

“Man, Valentine’s Day is complicated,” Tommy groaned.

“Tell me about it,” Lola agreed.

“I’m sorry Kamikaze took you prisoner. I mean, I hope you didn’t have to go somewhere important or anything.”

“It’s okay. Since you came to rescue me.”

Lola really did let her head lean into Tommy’s shoulder now. She might even forgive Kamikaze for that fake valentine, since things had turned out like this. Tommy was incredibly flustered all of a sudden, looking away and fidgeting with something in his pocket. Had he finally noticed her feelings this time?

“I actually didn’t know you were here. I just got this note from Bambi. I’d forgotten about it.”

Tommy got out the note, looked at it sadly for a second, then crumpled it between his hands. “Stupid Kamikaze,” he muttered, tossing the paper ball behind him and into the dirty water of the tunnel of love.

Hurt and angry that Tommy had come here chasing someone else, Lola sat up and away from Tommy’s shoulder. Stupid Kamikaze? She was thinking more about stupid Bambi. And stupid, _stupid Tommy_.

“Tommy, get your crazy robot off of me!”

The moment was broken completely as the boat carrying Gus and Robotboy emerged from the tunnel. Gus tried to scramble out before the boat had even reached the dock, and would have gotten a dunking in the dirty water if he hadn’t had Robotboy clinging to him. The little robot activated his rockets and simply flew Gas safely to the bottom of the stairs.

As soon as he’d set Gus safely on his feet, Robotboy returned to hugging him. He hung on Gus with arms and legs and nuzzled his cheek into Gus’s stomach.

“Gus soooo soft. Robotboy like.”

“Come on, Tommy. Call him off already!”

Gus was trying to pry Robotboy off, with no luck. Lola looked over at Tommy, who just looked back at her for a second, not knowing what to do.

“Robotboy, you have to at least give Gus room to breathe,” Tommy scolded. He got up and pulled on Robotboy’s waist, but wasn’t any more effective in removing him.

“I’ll get him off.”

Lola was already having a bad day. She simply smacked Gus in the head, which was extremely satisfying.

“Ow! Wha’d you do that for?”

“No hit Gus!”

The attack had the desired effect of getting Robotboy to let go as he tried to defend Gus. Now Tommy had to strain to hold him back while Lola took a quick step out of reach.

Gus took the opportunity to sidle behind Tommy and out of reach from both Lola and Robotboy.

“Just calm down, Robotboy,” Tommy was trying to say through gritted teeth.

“Yeah, sorry Robotboy. I can’t go out with you,” Gus interrupted.

That got Robotboy to forget about Lola. She was just able to see his little eyes go wide with hurt before he looked around at Gus over Tommy’s shoulder.

“But. . . Robotboy love Gus.”

“Um, yeah. Well, see, the G-man’s heart belongs to. . . um. . . Tommy, here, so it just wouldn’t work!” Gus only seemed to have seized on Tommy because he was close by, but he quickly elaborated. “Sure he’s a little funny looking, but I can get past all that.”

“Gus!” Lola could have sworn Gus was nuzzling at the back of Tommy’s neck. Or maybe he was still just cowering, but whatever he was doing it was not okay!

“Ew, Gus!” Tommy didn’t sound too happy with the declaration either.

Robotboy pushed out of Tommy’s arms and landed in a fighting stance. The drums on the sides of his head were out flat like the ears of an angry cat.

“Why Tommy take Gus away!?” Robotboy demanded.

“It’s not like that!” Tommy tried to protest.

“Tommy, deactivate him!” Lola cried. She had seen what jealousy had made Robotboy do to Kamikaze and his clones. She couldn’t stand to see Tommy hurt like that too.

For one terrible second it seemed Robotboy really was about to attack his best friend. The fighting stance only lasted for that one second, though. The anger seemed to flow out of him as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving him drooping.

“Tommy friend. No can hurt.”

“Thanks, Ro.” Tommy sighed. He knelt down to hug Robotboy, only to have the little robot duck back out of his arms. For one painful moment Tommy stayed as he was, arms out to Robotboy, his face blank with shock.

Lola decided it was about time for her to intervene. This was a subject where Robotboy would be much better off hearing from _her_ than either of the boys. She went to Robotboy and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, bending down to look him in the eye.

“Don’t be mad at Tommy, Robotboy. He’s your friend, right?”

“But. . . Tommy know Robotboy love Gus! And Tommy take Gus away,” Robotboy wailed.

“You two could fight for me,” Gus suggested. Now he didn’t have Robotboy hanging on him, he seemed to find the whole thing flattering again.

“We are not fighting over you.”

“Don’t listen to them.” Lola turned Robotboy to face her again. “Those boys might not get it, but love is complicated. Sometimes if you’re too pushy you’ll scare the person you like away, even if they like you back.”

Robotboy looked up at her with complete trust. For a second Lola was afraid he would ask how she knew, but instead he asked hopefully, “Lola teach?”

“Okay.” Lola felt her cheeks grow warm and deliberately did not look at Tommy. “To start, just try being nice. You can do little things to show the person you love that they’re appreciated, and that you like them. I know Gus already thinks you’re cool,” she added.

“Really?”

Lola had to take her hands away quickly as she felt Robotboy’s face getting hot. The blush wasn’t visible, but she had sure felt the heat of it.

“Robotboy make valentine!” Robotboy announced happily, jumping into the air in pure joy.

“Oh thanks, Lola,” Gus grumbled sarcastically, “You just encouraged him.”

“Someone had to help him.” Lola crossed her arms, irritated at how useless the two of them were being. Tommy still looked dazed from the rejection.

Robotboy flew up and pried one of the metal hearts off of the tunnel of love sign. As they watched he seemed to be tracing something on the heart with his finger, sparks flying every which way and the smell of hot metal wafting down to where the three kids stood.

In a moment he flew back down and hovered in front of Gus, holding out the heart in both hands and looking cutely pleased with himself. He had actually welded a short note onto the metal heart reading, ‘G-man cool. Robotboy like.’

“That’s so sweet!” Lola cried.

“That’s. . . resourceful.” Tommy sounded less than happy with it, but at least he was trying to be nice.

Gus, however, didn’t even try to be polite. “What kind of valentine is that? Cards are for girls!”

Robotboy dropped the metal card on Gus’s foot as he streaked off again. This time he moved like a blur, ransacking various food vendor carts until he was able to come back with candy.

The candied apples he found looked like they had been sitting there since the fair had closed down in the fall. However, they did make Gus forget about his bruised foot.

“Now that’s the kind of valentine I’m taking about! You’re all right.”

“Ew.” The only thing Lola found worse than the fact that Gus was eating that stuff was that she couldn’t even say she couldn’t believe he was eating it. She had known him too long to be surprised.

“Yay!” Robotboy happily latched onto Gus again. This time Gus was too busy eating to even try and remove him.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but. . .” Tommy put one hand over his face, visibly still struggling just to grasp the situation. “Gus, can you look after Robotboy for a little while?”

“What? You’re gonna dump him on me when he’s acting all loco like this?”

“Robotboy bring many valentine. Gus feel loved, yes?”

That changed Gus’s mind in a snap.

“Okay, sure. I’ll take good care of him.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. Robotboy, keep Gus out of trouble, okay?”

“Robotboy take good care,” he chirped.

Robotboy and Gus might not have noticed Tommy’s melancholy attitude, but Lola did. When Tommy took one last look at his robot friend and turned back to the tunnel of love she followed after him.

“Tommy? What’s wrong?”

“I have to figure out a way to get Robotboy back to normal.”

Tommy climbed into the same boat Robotboy and Gus had just returned in. Lola could only think of one reason Tommy would be going back in there right now.

“You want to take a look at those arrows again, right? I’ll help you.”

Lola hopped into the shocking pink boat after Tommy. Ordinarily she might have wanted to take advantage of the situation, or to at least enjoy their moment alone, but Tommy was obviously still hurt.

“Cheer up. Robotboy’s still your friend, you know. He couldn’t attack you even when Gus made him jealous.”

“Great. That just means he likes me more than Kamikaze.”

“Moping isn’t going to fix anything,” Lola pointed out, trying to snap Tommy out of it.

Honestly, boys could be so dumb, even Tommy. Lola swore the boys had made more drama between themselves today than she had over valentines in her whole life.

“Thanks, Lola.”

At least once they reached the right part of the tunnel Tommy revived enough for action. He pulled the boat to one side, getting soaked up to his knees in the process, and started searching around for arrows that hadn’t been broken or burned during the fight.

Lola went straight over to the boat still overturned on the shore. It was peppered with arrows from when Tommy and Gus had hidden behind it. She took one of the arrows in both hands and tried to yank it free.

After a brief struggle the arrow snapped in half in her hands, leaving the tip still embedded in the overturned boat. Lola glared at it, then looked over to check what Tommy was doing.

He had found what looked like an intact arrow, and was now looking at it contemplatively. Lola could guess what he was thinking. He could probably use one of those to make Bambi fall in love with him. Lola had the same thought. If it could make Tommy notice her as more than a friend for once. . . .

“Are you okay?”

Lola didn’t even notice until Tommy spoke up that her hands were clenched hard enough to snap the arrow shaft into further pieces.

“You didn’t prick yourself, did you?”

Tommy came over to check on her, all concern. He was carefully holding his own arrow with the tip pointed away from both of them. Was it really that scary to him that she might get pricked and fall in love with him? Did the idea bother him that much?

“Why would it matter?”

“It’s not right to fall in love because of something like that! I don’t want that to happen to you too!”

Tommy grabbed her hand. At the simple contact Lola felt her heart stutter and pound. Her hand opened, dropping what was left of the arrow as she tried to clasp his hand in return. She felt Tommy’s thumb rub over her palm, massaging it.

Lola could hardly hear over the blood rushing in her ears as he repeated the question. “Did you prick yourself?”

“No.”

Being hit with cupid’s arrow was no simple pinprick, not to her. There was nothing that could be done to reverse it now. That single outburst alone erased every thoughtless word, every well-meaning slight, every little hurt of the day.

“Did you?” She had to ask after a second, just in case.

“No.”

“Good.”

“Good,” Tommy agreed awkwardly.

He only seemed to notice just then that he was holding her hand. He looked at her, then looked away and let go, failing to cover his own embarrassment.

“Let’s go analyze this,” Tommy covered, “and get Robotboy back to normal.”

Their ride back was silent except for the sound of the water lapping at the sides of their little boat. Right there, on that badly lit ride that smelled of scorched metal and smoke and jockstrap, as the awkward silence between them slowly eased into something more comfortable out of simple familiarity, Lola thought she had never loved Tommy more than she loved him now.


	2. Tommy's POV

Why couldn’t Robotboy have fallen in love with him? That thought had run through Tommy’s head so many times that it had become more familiar than surreal. If Robotboy had to get hit by that stupid arrow, why couldn’t he have at least fallen for him?

Sure it would be a little weird to have his friend cling on him like that, but he was sure he would have been able to deal with it better than Gus. At least he would be able to keep Robotboy out of trouble until he figured out how to fix things. At least, if it had been him, he would have Robotboy here with him right now.

If he hadn’t seen the way Robotboy reacted he might have been tempted to use one of those arrows himself. Even if he couldn’t get Bamibi’s attention for himself, he could at least get revenge on Kurt by making him fall in love with. . . with _Donnie_ or someone. But seeing it mess with Robotboy like that just made the whole idea feel flat-out wrong.

Tommy couldn’t stop remembering the way Robotboy had jerked away from him. It still hurt. Usually, if they argued there would just be that one painful moment of hope and fear before they realized they both wanted to reconcile. Tommy just wanted to be able to hug Robotboy and laugh together about how ridiculous everything was, and have things go back to normal.

This was jealousy, though he didn’t want to admit it to himself. He never thought he would be so jealous of his friend. Especially when Gus was usually the one to tease him over a suddenly much less important infatuation. Feeling hurt over Bambi paled in comparison to what Tommy was going through now. He hadn’t even realized how much it meant to him that he was Robotboy’s favorite person until he was set aside.

“Tommy? You seem a little distracted.”

Professor Moshimo’s voice cut into Tommy’s melancholy thoughts. He had tried a few tests on a gummy fluid he’d found on the arrowhead at the professor’s direction, then quickly lapsed into his own thoughts after sending the results to be analyzed.

“Sorry, Professor. Did you find anything?” Tommy asked as he tried to shake himself out of it.

“Yes, actually. The substance you found seems to be made up of a powerful cocktail of hormones, though I would need further analysis to confirm the exact ratio and composition. I would hypothesize that once introduced into the bloodstream it would give one an overpowering sensation of being in love. Still, I’m surprised it had such a drastic effect on Robotboy.”

“Drastic is exactly the word for it,” Tommy confirmed. “Isn’t there a way to reverse it?”

“The safest thing would be to simply let it run its course,” Moshimo instructed. “There shouldn’t be any permanent damage to Robotboy’s systems, after all.”

“Oh.” Tommy wanted Robotboy back, but he couldn’t say he was disappointed that there wasn’t a real danger to Robotboy from the arrow. “Thanks Professor. I should probably go keep an eye on him until then.”

Lola had already gone to try and find Gus and Robotboy, but Tommy wanted to see Robotboy for himself.

“Just a minute, Tommy,” Professor Moshimo interrupted before Tommy could turn off the communicator on his watch. “This sudden crush may be a difficult thing for Robotboy to handle. I’m counting on you to help him thought it.”

“I’ll do everything I can,” Tommy promised, and he meant it. If Robotboy needed him he would do everything he could for his friend.

When Tommy found him, however, it didn’t look like Robotboy was having a difficult time with his crush at all.

It didn’t take long to find them. They had settled in a nearby park, back far enough from the path to be hidden, but not far enough that Tommy couldn’t hear them. Gus was lounging on his back in the grass, lazily enjoying himself. Robotboy was curled beside him with his head on Gus’s stomach. The grass around them was littered with candy wrappers, proof that Roboyboy had made good on his promise of showering Gus with valentines.

Gus was finishing off some kind of chocolate as Tommy approached. He burped in satisfaction, making Robotboy’s head bounce on his stomach. This sent Robotboy into a fit of joyful giggles.

The sight made Tommy have to stop and remind himself that he was Robotboy’s friend and he was just here to make sure nothing bad happened to him. Robotboy couldn’t help if he had a really weird crush, right?

“Hey Tommy,” Gus greeted, apparently the first to notice him. “You know, it’s about time you let me borrow Robotboy for once.”

Robotboy lifted his head at the sound of his name, still focused adoringly on Gus. He didn’t even seem to notice Tommy standing right there.

“Watch this.” Gus reached down and tickled Robotboy under the chin. “Is my little robo-bobo happy?” he asked, trying to pitch his voice higher as he spoke.

Robotboy laughed in pleasure. He covered his cheeks with his hands, but not before Tommy saw that he was blushing. Rather, his face got so hot that the metal actually started to glow dull red.

“Gus is sweet talker,” Robotboy giggled.

“What are you doing?” Tommy demanded.

Robotboy’s shy, happy reaction to such a simple thing was alarmingly cute. Where had he even picked up that behavior? The thought that Gus was taking advantage of it for fun was something Tommy couldn’t stand.

“On date,” Robotboy answered him cheerfully. He only seemed to notice just then that Tommy was there. “Is fun! Very happy.”

“Since when is this a date!?” Tommy wanted to know. “I just asked you to keep an eye on him!”

“Hey, just because I am finally getting the appreciation I deserve. . . Speaking of which I could really go for some ice cream.”

Robotboy perked up instantly, to Tommy’s despair.

“Want ice cream? Robotboy get!”

“Wait a minute! You’re not supposed to let people see Robotboy. You can’t send him on errands for you.”

“Geez, Tommy. You don’t haveta get all jealous.”

“I’m not jealous!”

“Tommy. . . jealous?” Robotboy’s focus on Gus seemed to waver for the first time since getting hit with the arrow.

“I said I’m not jealous!” Tommy shouted. He was not going to be jealous about Robotboy’s crush. Absolutely not! “I’ll go get the ice cream. You just stay here with Gus.”

“Okay!” Whatever had bothered Robotboy before, it might as well not exist now.

Tommy walked down to the snack shop set up at the edge of the park with a heavy heart.

The shop specialized in anything that could be either frozen or fried and served on a stick. It was one of Gus’s favorite places right now, so Becky, the girl who usually worked there in the afternoon, knew both of them by name. Usually Tommy enjoyed going there, but today. . . without Robotboy in his bag or tagging along beside him in disguise, it felt lonely.

Waiting behind a lovey-dovey couple who had to make a big deal out of ordering their special Valentine’s sundae only made it worse. The seasonal sundae was strawberry and cherry ice cream liberally sprinkled with chocolate chips that were actually shaped like little hearts. Tommy glared at the innocent confection, just thinking how much he hated Valentine’s Day right now.

“Sweetheart sundae for you too?” Becky asked automatically, half occupied with tidying up from the last few orders.

“No way.” Tommy put his head against the counter, utterly dejected. “No sweetheart anything.”

“What’s wrong, hon?”

Tommy felt a gentle hand on his head and looked up. Becky was leaning on the counter, looking honestly concerned for him. Tommy had always thought she was kind of pretty. She had short, curly black hair and beautiful dark brown eyes, and she was almost always smiling. Plus the time Robotboy had followed him in and he’d tried to explain that his friend ‘Robert’s’ parents didn’t let him eat sweets she had given him an extra scoop of ice cream and a wink. . . and right now all Tommy could think about was Robotboy.

“It’s nothing.”

She didn’t push it, or ask if he’d been dumped, and Tommy was grateful for that. She just offered, “How about a triple chocolate blitz? That’s what I like when I’ve had a bad day.”

A young man who had come in behind Tommy suddenly laughed, which made Becky blush for some reason.

“Okay,” Tommy agreed, because triple chocolate would have to keep Gus happy for a while. Plus it was always interesting to see the more complex sundaes in the process of being built. Layer after layer of toffee and caramel and nuts all ribboned between three different kinds of chocolate ice cream became a small monument to sugar. Three cherries went on top, each on their own little cushion of whipped cream.

Just looking at the enormous sundae would make any sweet tooth ache. If that didn’t keep Gus out of trouble for a while, Tommy didn’t know what would.

“Thank you,” Tommy told her.

“Have a better day, okay Tommy? We’ll still be here next year,” Becky added, with a sort of knowing older-woman smile that mystified Tommy.

As Tommy made his way out he heard Becky greeting the guy who had laughed at her recommendation in the same cheerful way she greeted everyone.

“What would you like today?”

“How about something green?”

That was a weird request. Tommy looked back, having to open the door with his shoulder to keep from dropping the huge ice cream sundae, and saw Becky laughing behind her hand. She was blushing again.

“It’s not St. Patrick’s day yet!”

“Well, then, what do you have in blue?”

That was all of that strange conversation that Tommy got to hear. The minute he was out of earshot he pretty much forgot about it.

If Tommy thought that ice cream would cool things down, he was wrong. He’d had this vague hope that a colossal serving of ice cream would distract Gus from his ‘date’ with Robotboy. After all, Tommy was sure that Gus’s first love was for sugar. He hadn’t accounted for just how infatuated Robotboy was, or how much assorted human behavior he had picked up.

Instead of having a reprieve, Tommy found himself stuck watching while Robotboy fed Gus ice cream. The two of them kept being so cute at each other. Robotboy was still utterly lovesick and Gus kept flirting back at him, though Tommy didn’t stop telling himself it was just the sugar.

Trying not to watch the unlikely couple, Tommy stared at the park path, or at least the part he could see through the bushes. He spotted the weird guy from the snack shop again, who had apparently opted for red ice cream of some unknown flavor. It was a lot easier to watch a stranger eating ice cream than to turn around and have to see Robotboy wiping chocolate off of Gus’s chin.

While Tommy was watching that color-coded ice cream guy Becky ran up behind him. For a minute Tommy thought they were arguing, because both of them were looking at anything but each other and now the guy’s face was just as red as Becky’s. Then, Becky actually stood up on her toes and kissed him on the mouth.

If Tommy was surprised by this new development, he had nothing on Gus.

“Wait a minute! Is Becky giving out kisses with ice cream now!?” Gus wanted to know.

“Gus no look other women!” Robotboy warned.

“But she works in the _ice cream shop_! And she’s hot,” Gus added as an afterthought.

Tommy had to grab Robotboy and just hope he had the traction to keep his fuming robot friend from flying out and knocking the unsuspecting couple across the park.

“Robotboy! I know you’re upset, but you can’t just go attack anyone Gus looks at! She’s not even trying to hurt your feelings!”

Robotboy’s eyes were narrowed, glowing red, and Tommy was reminded of that one terrible moment when Robotboy almost attacked him out of jealousy.

“Gus, tell him you didn’t mean it!”

“Why? Did you get a kiss with _my_ ice cream? Is this some Valentine’s Day thing no one told me about?”

“Gus!” Tommy gave up on getting Gus to help him and tried to reason with Robotboy. “You can’t just hurt people who aren’t trying to hurt you. Even if you’re really, really jealous. You’re better than that, right?”

Robotboy didn’t answer, but he hadn’t rocketed off, either. He was shaking, and Tommy could only hope that he didn’t super-activate.

“I know you’re better than that. You can handle this without hurting anyone, right Ro?”

Tommy groped for the deactivation switch on his watch, but he didn’t have to use it. Instead he felt something drip onto his arm, and realized that there was oil welling up in Robotboy’s eyes.

The next moment there were tears of oil streaming down Robotboy’s face. Maybe that was the only way he could deal with his jealousy without destroying something, but Tommy didn’t like that solution very much either. He definitely preferred watching Robotboy swoon over Gus to seeing him cry.

Tommy hugged Robotboy, trying to stem the flow of oily tears against his shoulder, because he didn’t know what else to do.

“Don’t cry, Ro. It’s okay.”

“No okay!” Robotboy wailed. “Love Gus so much, but Gus always make jealous!”

Tommy glared at Gus over Robotboy’s head.

“Hey, don’t look at me. I wasn’t trying to make him jealous.”

“It’ll be okay,” Tommy tried again to reassure Robotboy. “Even if things don’t work out, I’m right here. Don’t cry.”

No matter what he said it did no good. Robotboy kept right on crying, outright bawling, with the sound only muffled by Tommy’s shoulder.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“What. Gus.” Tommy didn’t even make a question out of it. If Gus asked anything about kisses again, Tommy was pretty sure he would be justified in hitting him.

“If you let him cry out all that oil, isn’t he going to freeze up like last time?”

“Of course he-” Tommy stopped, suddenly realizing what that meant. Robotboy would cry out enough oil to flush the fake hormones out of his system. He could be back to normal as soon as Tommy gave him fresh oil.

Just as he realized that, the flow of Robotboy’s tears slowed. He lifted his head and let out a little half-whimper-half-sob that sounded as if something inside of his voice box had skipped.

“Ro? You gonna be okay?” Tommy asked in a low voice.

He wiped some of the oil smears away from Robotboy’s eyes, trying to see if new tears would well up in their place. Only then did he realize that he was covered with oil. His arms and hands were slick with it, and it had soaked all through the front of his shirt.

“Love. . . no hurt so much now,” Robotboy said slowly, as if just processing it himself. “No cry.”

“Gus, I don’t know if you’re an idiot or a genius,” Tommy said.

The idea that Robotboy would be back to his normal self, that he wouldn’t have these little fits of pain and jealousy and mooning over Gus, and suddenly Tommy got the feeling that he could kind of _understand_ Robotboy mooning over Gus. And maybe it was just because he was really, really grateful to know that Robotboy could go back to normal. . . .

“Hey, you should know by now that the G-man always knows best,” Gus started to praise himself.

Before Tommy even thought about what he was doing he had one hand twisted in Gus’s shirt and he had just kissed Gus. _Kissed_ him. Square on the mouth. Right over Robotboy’s head.

Shock froze Tommy in place. Had he really just. . . ?

Robotboy started crying again. His wail of misery snapped both boys out of their shock.

“Oh gross! What did you do that for Tommy!?” Gus wiped at his mouth with his hands before practically sticking his face in what was left of his chocolate sundae to get rid of the taste.

“. . . what did I just do?” Tommy scrubbed at his own mouth with the back of his hand, not caring that it tasted like oil.

There was absolutely no way to calm Robotboy before he cried himself out this time. Meaning Tommy found himself with a deactivated and oil-smeared Robotboy in his arms a minute later. Gus was still giving him distrusting looks and trying to ward him off with crossed fingers, like he was a vampire.

It took Tommy half a second to reassess that, yes, he was covered with oil, was probably being affected by Kamikaze’s stupid hormones because of that, had just kissed his best human friend, made his other best friend cry, and somehow this wasn’t a really, really bizarre nightmare.

“I need a shower _right now_.”

Tommy bolted out of there almost as soon as he’d announced that. He did not want to deal with absolute weirdness of having actually kissed Gus.

Infinitely worse than everything else that had happened today, and there were plenty of things on the list now, was the fact that he had hurt Robotboy’s feelings. He was supposed to try and help Robotboy, and he’d only made everything worse somehow. Even if the hormones were completely flushed out the next time Robotboy activated, Tommy didn’t know how he was supposed to fix what he had done.


	3. Gus's POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the urge to finish this today and opened it up and... it was done. I just completely forgot to do my final editing. I am so sorry for the unnecessarily long wait. I have here the second half of the Valentine fic for you.

Chocolate soothed all wounds, and had the added bonus of getting rid of the lingering traces of Tommy’s weirdness. The guy had been his best friend forever, but some of his ideas were just ridiculous. He always got so crazy when Robotboy was involved.

He had always been like this, for at least as long as Gus could remember. Even when they were in kindergarten he was already so obsessed with building things it had taken weeks for him to notice Gus was trying to make friends with him.

Since Robotboy had been sent to live with them Tommy was in his element, but he got so caught up in whatever was happening with Robotboy that he would just charge into whatever. Which was usually fine but not when it ended up with him doing something like that because _yuck_.

Right about the time he finally had washed the taste of oil out of his mouth, Lola found him. She jumped right into his hidden picnic spot and stood over him, arms crossed, with the setting sun shining behind her and giving her a halo of light usually reserved for goddesses and junk food (though the latter most featured in Gus’s head).

“Where’s Robotboy? You’re supposed to be looking after him!”

“Tommy took him back already, _duh_.” Gus shot back, because since when did Tommy go anywhere without Robotboy if he could help it?

“He, oh. . .” Lola’s shoulders slumped. “I thought he would call me when he found Robotboy.”

That was another side effect of Tommy’s preoccupation with Robotboy. He might be great with machines and stuff, but he was totally stupid about a lot of other things. Case in point: Lola’s crush, which would have been really obvious to anyone paying attention. It was the kind of thing that made Gus want to beat his friend over the head with the fact until he finally got it, but at the same time there was a part of him that hoped Tommy never figured it out.

Lola was always doing little things to try to get Tommy’s attention. Not just in the form of favors and presents but with sweet smiles, fluttered eyelashes, or quick poses to remind him that there was a cute girl right there. As long as Lola kept trying Gus got to appreciate those moments as well.

Of course, Lola wasn’t making any attempt to get attention now. Defeated, she sat down in the grass next to him, which Gus didn’t mind. She even smelled nice. Not chocolate nice, maybe, but still. And on the subject of chocolate. . .

“Do you want some?” Gus asked. The sundae had been big enough he still had a good amount of chocolate left even after all that, and apparently Lola made him a little crazy.

“No!” She burst out automatically before realizing what he was offering. She paused, looked at the not-completely-melted mess of chocolate ice cream and refined that to a little more polite, “No, thank you.”

“Eh, your loss.” Gus was just as happy to not have to share, as long as Lola felt like hanging around without being bribed.

“I never even got to see if Robotboy was okay.”

Normally Lola would be showing off how smart and cool she was, making a big deal out of being the only one who actually knew what they were doing. Instead she was slumped in disappointment, not caring if she impressed anyone, and that was fine too. (Tommy never saw her like this. Maybe he wouldn’t even have recognized her.)

“I should just go home.” 

“Your house is boring!” That was the opposite of the truth, obviously, but it would be boring here without her. He didn’t want to go home, either. He just wanted her to hang around. “Don’t you want to catch a movie or something?”

Lola didn’t answer. When he looked over at her she was sitting with her knees tucked up to her chin, just looking at him.

“What?”

“I’m just waiting for you to tell me to buy you popcorn or something.”

“Well, if you’re offering.”

“No way, Gus.” He was used to Lola shooting him down, but this time she didn’t storm off or anything. She lay back in the grass with a sigh, stretching her arms out and staring up into the empty sky. “I hate this holiday.”

“It’s not that bad.” Gus had chocolate and company. As far as he was concerned, this was the best Valentine’s day had to offer.


	4. Robotboy's POV

Activation came with a familiar burst of light as his optical sensors activated. Almost as familiar was the sight of Tommy’s worried face that soon came into focus.

An automatic review of his most recent memories brought up more confusion than answers. Robotboy was sure that he had wanted to cry until his entire system ran dry, and he had. Only now he wasn’t sure why he’d felt so overwhelmed in the first place.

“Ro? Are you okay?”

The low tone of Tommy’s voice was one he associated with worry and frowns and bad things in general. There was nothing dangerous nearby or he would have known even before taking the time to analyze the tone of Tommy’s voice, so what could be wrong?

“I flushed out your system and got you fresh oil, so. . . don’t cry anymore, okay?”

Robotboy did remember Tommy hugging him and telling him to stop crying, but he also thought Tommy was part of the reason he’d wanted to cry in the first place. That didn’t make sense. A lot of things didn’t make sense, which left him to fall back on trusting Tommy to help him understand.

“What happen?”

“That arrow that hit you was all covered with hormones and stuff that messed with your systems and made you fall in love with Gus for a little while. When he made you cry it should have cleaned out your system. You’re feeling back to normal now, right?”

Robotboy paused to do an internal scan of his systems, but as far as he could tell he was running optimally. There didn’t seem to be any foreign substances in any of his fluids, either. The only thing that was out of order were the confusing new entries in his memory banks.

“How do you feel about Gus?” Tommy wanted to know.

“Gus friend!” Robotboy announced happily, since the answer was an easy one.

Tommy was fidgeting with his tools, looking at them rather than at Robotboy. Before Robotboy could ask if something was wrong, Tommy asked a second question. “And me? How do you feel about me?”

“Tommy best friend!”

That made Tommy smile, which Robotboy always liked.

“So you’re not jealous anymore, right Ro?”

“Why jealous?”

Why had he been crying? He traced that memory back to a visual file of Tommy pressing his mouth against Gus’s. For some reason that image was linked to an impression of pain. Not the hardcoded response that warned him of physical damage, but the internal pain called sadness. It wasn’t enough to make him cry again, but more than enough to know something was wrong. Why had that hurt?

The information he had collected over the past few months provided the identification of a kiss (differentiated from a bite, which involved teeth). Lola had explained once that kisses were only for people you liked a lot. She had given him one on the top of his head when he asked, which he had liked.

Gus had said kisses were only for girls and moms, but Robotboy was learning to filter out old statements when he found enough data that disproved them. He already knew Tommy liked Gus, because that was being friends, wasn’t it? So kisses were for whoever you liked most, not just a specific type of person.

But all his information indicated a kiss should be a nice thing. Why had seeing that hurt?

“It’s fine as long as you’re not jealous anymore, right?” Tommy asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“Jealous: when mad that someone else have something you want, yes?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

Now that he had a few pieces of information Robotboy could start fitting them together in a way that made sense. Tommy had kissed Gus, and Robotboy remembered him getting a kiss from Lola earlier in the day. Kisses were reserved for people you really liked. Tommy was his best friend in the whole world. Why didn’t he rate high enough for a kiss?

“Why no kiss Robotboy?”

For some reason that question made Tommy drop his tools all over the floor.

“What? You’re my best friend! Why would I kiss you?”

“Tommy kiss Gus and Lola. Why no like Robotboy enough for kiss?”

“That’s not fair, Ro. You know I like you a lot. You’re my best friend.”

Tommy was picking things up as he talked, not looking at Robotboy, but what he said was still true. Robotboy already knew Tommy cared about him very much. So why was he being left out?

“No kiss, because Robotboy not real boy?” he guessed, drooping with sadness. It wasn’t fair.

“It’s not like that. It’s weird to kiss a friend. Lola can get away with it because she’s a girl, but for guys it’s just. . . it’s weird, okay? And don’t bring up the thing with Gus again because that was way past weird.”

“No one want kiss Robotboy.”

“That’s not true.”

Tommy finally looked up from collecting his tools, but the moment their eyes met his gaze darted away again. There was a little flash of pink as he licked his lips before speaking again.

“I guess if you’re really sure you want one, just once is probably okay.”

As Tommy shifted closer, going down on one knee so they were the same height, Robotboy tried to quickly catalog everything about his expression and body language. It seemed like a very important moment, though he couldn’t completely process why.

“Why Tommy face all red?”

“Don’t ask.”

When Tommy’s lips pressed against his mouth the touch seemed so light at first. It took a moment before he realized that was because Tommy’s lips were soft, more yielding than fingertips. They were faintly moist, too, which set up a pleasant tingle where they touched. Tommy’s eyes were closed tight, but Robotboy didn’t mimic him for once. He didn’t want to miss a thing.

Robotboy tried to push back, his mouth opening a degree in a silent request for more kiss. The moment he did there was a tiny bolt of static between them, which made Tommy jolt back and clap one hand over his mouth.

“You shocked me!”

“Sorry.”

“No, I guess it’s my fault for starting it. As long as you’re okay.”

Tommy still had one hand to his mouth, rubbing his lower lip where he’d been shocked, but he was smiling now. Robotboy mirrored the gesture, touching his own just-kissed mouth. He could feel the lingering lip-print where Tommy had touched him. An invisible kiss-mark for him to keep.

“Like kissing,” Robotboy decided.

Tommy’s face was even redder now. Robotboy wondered if he still wasn’t supposed to ask about that.

“Hey, Robotboy?”

“Yes?”

The next thing he knew Tommy was hugging him. Hugs were usually for after getting through something scary or dangerous or painful, so it was an unexpected treat. Robotboy absolutely loved hugs. When Tommy pulled him into a hug, even for just a moment, all the little sensors recording temperature and pressure and texture would get overloaded with so much data it couldn’t be data anymore. Tommy’s hugs couldn’t be analyzed. They had to be felt.

While Robotboy was happy just feeling the hug, Tommy kept talking.

“Now we know you can fall in love like a real boy, but it’s okay if you wait a few years before doing it again, you know?”

“Like real boy?” He hadn’t thought of this, but love was something that happened to humans, wasn’t it? He’d wanted to feel that, but they had just kept telling him it was complicated and he’d learn about it later. Today it had swept up on him before he saw it coming, and disappeared again just as suddenly. Love was a little scary.

“Yeah. That stuff Kamikaze used on you works on humans too, so you were responding like a human when it hit you. At least, I think so.”

“Yay!” Robotboy’s excitement was like tingly little sparks running all through him. “Want fall love again!” Falling in love with Gus would be good. Gus had been so much fun, and had made him so happy. Well, right up until he ran into jealousy so powerful that it hurt, but if that was a part of love he would learn to enjoy experiencing it too.

“Don’t!”

Tommy’s arms tightened around him. It wasn’t at all unpleasant, but Tommy’s pulse had jumped at the same time, reminding him of a panic reaction.

“What wrong?”

“Nothing. I just don’t think you need to do that again so soon.”

It was unfair when Tommy wouldn’t tell him what was wrong. Usually he was so good about always helping Robotboy figure things out. Robotboy was stuck trying to go back through his memory circuits once again, trying to find what was wrong.

“Tommy jealous?” he suggested. After all, he had gotten a very good first date. Maybe Tommy was upset because he had been left out.

“I’m not!” Tommy protested. “I really shouldn’t be jealous.”

“Good. Because Tommy best friend, always.” Robotboy snuggled his face into Tommy’s shoulder, luxuriating in the warm-close-safe feeling of it.

“Thanks, Robotboy.”

“Tommy come on date next time too,” Robotboy offered cheerfully.

Tommy just sighed and continued to hold him. Robotboy didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing, but he guessed good. Tommy would tell him if something was wrong, wouldn’t he?

“I. . . it’s been a long day. I should clean up.” Tommy finally said.

But for several minutes Tommy didn’t move to clean up anything at all. He just went on holding Robotboy without a word. Whatever Tommy was thinking about, Robotboy didn’t interrupt him. It had been a long day, and for now it was nice just to enjoy being hugged by his best friend.


End file.
